In India’s villages, where development often bypasses the most vulnerable, Dr Kalpana Sankar has brought dignity, economic independence, and hope to millions of women. A scientist by training and a changemaker by conviction, she left a government job to co-found ‘Hand in Hand India’, applying scientific rigour and grassroots organising to build a holistic rural…
For years, Meenakshi Kumar walked the imposing corridors of the Supreme Court of India, dressed in black robes, building arguments and assisting her father, also a lawyer, in high-stakes legal cases. As a criminal lawyer, she thrived in the profession. Yet, somewhere between case files and hearing dates, a quiet longing stirred — one that…
On a sunny afternoon in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, a group of students gathers around a shallow water body, their eyes fixed on a thick green mat floating on the surface. At first glance, it looks serene — glossy leaves, purple flowers, and dragonflies weaving through the stalks. But for 25-year-old ecologist Sushmita Krishnan, this is…
“There is something different in the air now,” says Inderjit Singh, a 79-year-old farmer from Rajinder Nagar in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib district. “It feels cleaner. Birds sing all day, and when I walk through the trees I planted, it feels like a forest that belongs to all of us.” His voice carries the pride of…